Amazon says Kindle is its top-selling product

Online retailer Amazon.com has wasted no time congratulating itself on a banner 2010 holiday season, announcing that the company saw a daily order peak on November 29 (Cyber Monday) with more than 13.7 million items ordered, translating to a record-setting 158 items per second&mdsah;and on its peak day, the company also shipped over 9 million units. But the story Amazon wants people to know about is the Kindle: the company is touting the ereader as not only the top-selling items this holiday season, but the top-selling item across all the products Amazon.com offers for sale—although Amazon still isn’t saying exactly how many Kindles that might be.

“We’re grateful to the millions of customers who have made the all-new Kindle the bestselling product in the history of Amazon—surpassing Harry Potter 7,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com founder and CEO.

Amazon says its top three electronics items sold between November 14 and December 19 were two versions of the Kindle (the 6-inch Wi-Fi and 3G editions), followed by the 8 GB Apple iPod touch. Among video games, Call of Duty: Black Ops,Just Dance 2, and Donkey Kong Country Returns took the top three sales slots, while Inception,The Blind Side, and Toy Story 3 were the three top-selling movies of the season.

Bezos also noted that Amazon is “seeing”—perhaps via some unspecified all-seeing, all-knowing, super-powered eye—that many Kindle customers “also own an LCD tablet,” and use the tablet devices (like an iPad or a Samsung Galaxy Tab) for movies, games, and Web browsing while they prefer the Kindle for reading, thanks to its lower weight, longer battery life, and E-Ink display that works in direct sunlight and doesn’t create kind of eye strain many people experience with extended use of LCD displays. And Bezos says a key point for folks with both a tablet and a Kindle is the Kindle’s $149 starting price tag: “it’s low enough that people don’t have to choose.”

Amazon also notes the most-purchased and most-gifted Kindle ebook on Christmas Day was Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The top three selling Kindle books for the overall holiday season were John Grisham’s The Confession: A Novel, George Bush’s Decision Points, and Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken.